Credit Union fraud is never good. The board of directors of the $42 million Toledo Metro Federal Credit Union told their former president/CEO Charles Robert Poore they wanted to ask him about numerous suspicious transactions on his corporate credit card.
The next day, Poore resigned and was never seen again at the Toledo, Ohio-based cooperative.
Federal agents, however, found Poore in Pittsburgh and arrested him Tuesday on a felony charge of thrift and credit union theft, embezzlement or misapplication. After a hearing in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, Poore was released on a $25,000 bond.
A TMFCU internal investigation revealed from December 2011 through May 2014, the credit union paid a total of $269,593 to Visa for transactions Poore made on his corporate credit card. Most of those transactions primarily paid for office equipment and supplies, according to a federal affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh.
However, TMFCU’s investigation could only account for approximately 15% of the items purchased and was unable to account for $233,933 in transactions made by Poore. How credit union fraud takes place varies, but there is never a good way for credit union employees to act unethically. For sure, unethical actions often lead to illegal activity.
According to the affidavit, Poore purchased items through his wife’s Amazon account from a third-party vendor and then sold the items to TMFCU using his corporate credit card at a significantly inflated cost and profit.
For example, Poore purchased two battery backup towers for computers for about $200 from an international customer using his wife’s credit card. These items were then sold from his wife’s Amazon account and charged to the TMFCU corporate credit card for more than $900, according to court documents.
“For legal reasons, the credit union is unable to discuss specifics about the incident until the investigation and trial have been completed,” current TMFCU President/CEO Daniel Zimolzak said in a prepared statement. “Insurance has reimbursed the credit union for virtually the full amount of the loss. The credit union has implemented new procedures to insure similar frauds will not occur again. It must be stressed that no safeguards are ever 100% guaranteed to stop such incidents.”
Zimolzak also said member deposits were never at risk and no member experienced any loss.
According to the FBI – The former president of the Toledo Metro Federal Credit Union was charged in federal court related to using his corporate credit card for personal gain of more than $233,000, said Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Charles Robert Poore, 45, formerly of Toledo, now residing in Pittsburgh, was charged in a criminal information with one count of embezzlement.
Poore was president of the Toledo Metro Federal Credit Union and, as such, has a credit card for business expenses. Poore used that credit card to purchase goods from third-party vendors through an Amazon account. He then sold those items to the credit union using his corporate credit card at a signifcantly inflated cost. This conduct occurred between 2011 and 2014 and realized profits for Poore of approximately $233,933, according to the information.
According to the Pittsburg Post Gazzette – Charles Poore waived indictment before U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon and pleaded to a count of embezzlement. The judge will sentence him in August 2016.
The FBI arrested Poore in Pittsburgh in October after determining that he used his corporate credit card to make $233,933 in non-business purchases between 2011 and 2014.
The FBI said that in the summer of 2014, the credit union’s board of directors noticed suspicious transactions on Poore’s credit card. The board tried to contact him about the purchases, but he resigned the next day and was never seen again at the credit union office.
Poore was initially charged by complaint in Ohio but the case was transferred to Pittsburgh in February.
